John Cornyn grills DOJ about recent leaks of classified information

John Cornyn

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas questioned Deputy Attorney General James Cole in a Senate Judiciary committee meeting about the recent leaks of classified government information and the measures the Department of Justice planned to take to stop them.

In the past two weeks, orders for an increased number of cyberattacks on Iran as well as a secret “kill list” of terrorism suspects have been leaked to the media by current or former government employees.

During the committee meeting Cornyn asked Cole, “is it a crime to leak classified information on the part of a government employee?”

Cole answered “Without going into all the details, generally yes it is, Senator.”

While leaking classified government secrets is illegal, Cole did not think it was necessary to appoint a special prosecutor or counsel to find who leaked the information.